physics

forces, motion, gravity, waves, sound, light, magnetism, electricity. the laws that govern everything from falling fruit to orbiting planets. a child at cyber valley lives inside a physics laboratory — gravity pulls water downhill, sound travels through the canyon, light bends through rain into rainbows, magnets stick to iron in volcanic rock

why physics first among sciences

physics is irreducible. chemistry rests on physics (bonds are electromagnetic). biology rests on chemistry. technology rests on all three. a child who understands force, motion, and energy at the intuitive level — through her body, not through equations — has the foundation for every other science

a Type I civilization harnesses planetary energy. energy obeys physics. the child who feels gravity in her muscles, hears sound decay with distance, and watches light split into colors through water droplets is learning physics the way physicists wish they had — through direct experience before abstraction

progression

explorer (0-2 years)

physics through the body:

• gravity: everything falls down. water flows downhill. balls roll to the lowest point. she drops things and watches — this is her first experiment
• force: push → moves. pull → comes. heavy vs light. she discovers F=ma with her hands
• sound: loud vs quiet, near vs far. clap echoes in the canyon. rain sounds different on leaves, metal, water. bird calls carry across the valley
• light: sun is bright, shadow follows her, dark comes at night. flashlight makes a beam. candlelight flickers
• temperature: hot sun, cool shade, warm water, cold rain. thermal physics as felt experience
• magnetism: magnetic rocks in volcanic soil. magnet sticks to some things, not others. invisible force — first encounter with a field
• buoyancy: some things float, some sink. bath time is fluid dynamics
• elasticity: stretch a rubber band, bend a branch, squeeze mud. materials resist and return

target by age 2: knows things fall, heavy is harder to lift, sound gets quieter with distance, light makes shadows

builder (2-5 years)

cause and mechanism:

• pendulum: swing on a rope. longer rope = slower swing. she discovers period depends on length, not push
• lever: use a stick to move a heavy rock. the longer the stick, the easier it moves. Archimedes for toddlers
• inclined plane: rolling objects down slopes of different steepness. steeper = faster
• pulley: simple rope-over-branch to lift a bucket. mechanical advantage through experience
• sound waves: stretch a string tight, pluck it — pitch changes with tension and length. drum skin vibrates visibly
• light and shadow: shadow puppets, sundial, shadow changes through the day = earth rotates
• reflection: mirror, water surface, polished metal — light bounces
• refraction: stick looks bent in water. rainbow after rain — light splits into colors
• static electricity: rub balloon on hair — hair stands up. invisible force, visible effect
• simple circuits: battery + wire + LED. close the loop = light on. open = light off. first electronics
• magnetism: compass needle points north. iron filings show field lines around a magnet
• resonance: push a swing at the right rhythm and it goes higher. wrong rhythm and it slows. frequency matching

target by age 5: explains that longer pendulums swing slower, knows levers make work easier, has built a working circuit, can make a compass, understands that sound is vibration

maker (5-7 years)

measurement and law:

• Newton's laws through experiment: "an object at rest stays at rest" (tablecloth trick), "force = mass x acceleration" (push heavy vs light cart), "every action has equal reaction" (balloon rocket)
• gravity measurement: drop objects from different heights, time the fall. heavy and light fall the same speed (Galileo's discovery)
• wave physics: make waves in a trough of water. frequency, wavelength, amplitude — visible and measurable
• optics: build a pinhole camera. lenses focus light. prism splits white light into spectrum
• electrical circuits: series vs parallel. switches. resistors (longer wire = dimmer LED). first multimeter readings
• electromagnetic induction: spin a magnet inside a coil → LED lights up. motion creates electricity. this is how generators work
• sound speed: see lightning, count seconds to thunder. sound is slower than light. measure it
• pressure: deeper in water = more pressure on ears. air has weight (balloon experiment). atmospheric physics
• friction: slide on different surfaces. smooth is fast, rough is slow. friction produces heat (rub hands)
• conservation: "energy cannot be created or destroyed" — trace where the energy goes when a ball bounces and stops (kinetic → heat + sound)
• projectile motion: throw a ball — it curves. the horizontal and vertical are independent. first vector thinking

target by age 7: explains Newton's three laws with examples, builds circuits with switches, measures sound speed, understands conservation of energy, has built a simple generator

physics at cyber valley

content

books: The Way Things Work (Macaulay, 5+), Rosie Revere Engineer (Beaty, 3+), Oscar and the Bird (Waring, 2+), Forces Make Things Move (Bradley, 3+), What Makes a Magnet? (Branley, 3+), The Magic School Bus series (4+), DK Eyewitness Physics (6+), Gravity (Chin, 4+)

activities: pendulum experiments, lever/fulcrum building, water wave trough, prism rainbow making, circuit building (battery + LED + switch), compass making (magnetize needle, float on water), balloon rockets (Newton's third law), egg drop challenge (5+), simple machines scavenger hunt, electromagnetic generator from coil + magnet

songs: gravity songs, sound wave songs, "the rainbow song" (ROY G BIV)

linked domains

satoshi/energy — energy is the central concept of physics. satoshi/earth — geology and weather are applied physics. satoshi/atoms — matter at the smallest scale. satoshi/light — optics and the electromagnetic spectrum. satoshi/space — astrophysics and orbital mechanics. satoshi/numbers — physics demands measurement. satoshi/math — physics is math applied to nature. satoshi/making — every machine is applied physics. satoshi/body — the body is a physics engine (levers, hydraulics, acoustics)

subgraphs

quantum — the quantum/physics domain in the crystal. force, mass, momentum, oscillation, resonance, wave, field, electromagnetism, gravity, spacetime. Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Galileo, Archimedes — key figures. Nikola Tesla — electricity and magnetism. energo — energy transformation

see satoshi/domains for the full domain set